Under a Cloudless Rain
by Imagineer Stephen
Summary: Something in Flynn's past is mirrored in his relationship with Rapunzel.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tangled, its characters, or its locations.

**Under a Cloudless Rain**

"Rapunzel, you can't do those things!"

Flynn runs a hand through his hair as she sighs. Somehow his hair has still managed to retain its flowing nature. He prides himself on the fact that nothing can ruin how perfect it looks at this moment. Until Rapunzel sends a splash of water his way.

Laughter erupts on her face, and she's all rounded happiness at the way his features contort into something between anger and exasperation. She covers her mouth with her hand, but it doesn't stifle the laughter. "You look ridiculous, Flynn!"

Ridiculous has never been a word that Flynn's heard to describe how he looks. Striking, handsome, seductive, amazing are more up his alley, but his resolution falters when he watches Rapunzel striking up a conversation with the little, green devil perched on her shoulder.

No matter how many times she tries to convince him Pascal is harmless, that frog-thing sticks its tongue into his ear or takes a nibble on his sculpted hair. Flynn 's still waiting for Rapunzel to catch him in the act, but the frog is clever. So he settles for scowling at it while Rapunzel continues to frolic in the fountain.

He becomes the target of another splash attack, but slides out of range before something else can mess up his day. "No, no, no," he says as Rapunzel begins to displace most of the water onto the ground, and the guards are sending them funny looks. "Listen –"

She wrestles out of his grasp, her eyes widened and mouth parted. He doesn't know if it's from the way he grabbed her or just because he stopped her fun. "No! Stop!" She almost tumbles into the water but catches herself in time. "Don't touch me like that."

Her voice fails to reflect the sunshine he's gotten so accustomed to, and it breaks his concentration on the emotions dancing in her eyes. Pascal hisses in protectiveness of his kin, and Flynn just clenches his fists until the circulation cuts off.

"Look, there are just some things you can't do. Sometimes you just have to… to show a little restraint, you know?"

Restraint is something she does well, and so she takes hold of Flynn's hand as she climbs out of the fountain. She remembers listening to the estranged shouts of her mother when the room wasn't quite clean enough. The yelling, the hands that always found the right side of her cheek, and the stomping into the other room, followed by the slamming of the door.

A mere _all right_ is the only thing she says. Flynn inspects her face before she shifts her gaze towards her shoes. There are clouds hiding the memories in her eyes, and he resists the urge to sigh again. It's not as though he overreacted. No, she just needs to learn what is acceptable behavior when she goes out with him. He's done being embarrassed by her antics.

"C'mon. Let's head home," he says, tugging her along behind him. A pang of guilt sweeps through his body, but he shrugs the feeling because he attributes it to the lack of attention he's been receiving. Rapunzel doesn't understand what sorts of needs he has, and it frustrates him to no end when other girls comment on how cute of a couple they are. Dammit!

_Ow_ escapes Rapunzel's lips. That's when Flynn realizes that he's squeezing her hand far too tight, and she hasn't said a word until now. He watches her face revert into that blank stare after the blood returns to her fingers. Nothing. At all. He doesn't receive any sort of reprimand, any rise in her voice. Just a level _Let's go._

This time he jams his hands into his pockets because they are safer in the velvet lining than where he might do something he regrets. It wouldn't be the first time, and that drudges up things that he's tried to forget over the years.

"Are you okay?"

There's more Rapunzel in her voice. It draws him from his thoughts and into the present, where she has her dainty hand pressed against his chest. "Yea. Dandy." His voice is more of a grumble that rumbles in his chest, and she pulls her hand from him.

Rapunzel knows something is wrong, she just doesn't know what happened. Minutes ago she and Pascal were having a grand time playing in the town square, and it's not like the other people minded. She supposes Corona is more like home than she expects; constricting and closed-minded.

She closes her eyes, and without warning Gothel is standing in front of her, hands cocked on her hips and eyes ablaze with an anger that will surely result in some physical punishment. But it's not quite her because her face is all angles and a goatee adorns her chin and she's looking more like Flynn.

Clenching her eyes shut doesn't do much to diminish the nightmares that grab her arm and pull her hair and laugh at the confusion she's swimming in. Flynn – no Gothel – no! Gothel takes hold of her by the shoulders and yells something in Flynn's voice, and it's all so out of place that Rapunzel falls to the ground with her hands over her head.

Someone is shouting something incomprehensible in her ears, but she doesn't listen. She just curls her small frame into the blanket of her hair. The world caves in and twists and contorts itself, until Rapunzel can't take it anymore. Springing up from her huddle on the ground, she shouts _STOP!_ as loud as she can, and the world does. It becomes silent, until the patting of her feet break the stillness when she runs down the street.

Flynn stands stock-still, his arms still outstretched towards the girl that was in his arms not moments ago. Something spooked her, and that bloodcurdling scream rattled him. His heart is starting to settle its beat in his chest. The town remains quiet as he tries to gather himself, and he looks around at the stunned faces of the people. "Back off. Nothin' to see."

What the hell are they looking at anyways? This isn't any of their business, and if things didn't start calming down soon, it wouldn't be any of his business either. Though, he's still worried about Rapunzel. She's usually more in control of her emotions, or at least the negative ones. Otherwise she's a free spirit.

And there's something in that freedom that infuriates him. He remembers those days when he had nothing laid out before him except for being a coal miner, nothing to look forward to but the clammy darkness, nothing but black dust and unplanned explosions. The days where he lined up with his pickaxe to practice what was meant to be his future.

His fist slams into the ground before he realizes it, and blood trickles along his calloused hands. The world doesn't close in on him this time.

* * *

When he finds Rapunzel, she refuses to acknowledge his presence. She fixates her eyes on the ground as he lowers himself to sit beside her. Neither of them moves until the sun begins its descent towards the horizon, and the sky is ablaze in a colorful pallet. All reds and purples and oranges blended together.

Less and less people pass the two of them, still sitting, waiting, wishing. Rapunzel shifts her position on the ground, which causes her purple dress to ruffle. The sound draws Flynn's attention. She averts her eyes, and he sighs.

"Look, Rapunzel." And he stops because he's not entirely sure anything is his fault. His throat constricts and his palms become coated in sweat. Her green eyes stare back into his, and he falls for those emeralds once again. "I'm sorry."

A smile sneaks onto her lips, contrasting the lines of dried tears running along her cheeks. Instead of returning the smile, Flynn closes his eyes.

"Are you okay, Flynn?" But he hears nothing. She nudges him. No response. "Flynn!" This brings him back to reality. "I said. Are you okay?"

"Dammit, I'm fine. Okay? I just ran halfway around Corona looking for you."

Rapunzel's eyebrows slide up her forehead. "You – ran? Looking for me?"

He drums his fingers on the ground, exhaling a deep breath. "You're missing the point," he says, pinching his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"Then tell me what the point is, Flynn! You never tell me anything." Rapunzel stands and glares down at the man still sitting on the stones. Her chest heaves up and down with the exertion of her shouts. "Tell me!"

"You really want to know?" And he's on his feet, too. "You ran off to hell knows where for no reason at all!"

She takes a step towards him. "I had a reason."

"By all means, share it," he says with a half-hearted smirk.

Suddenly she's small, a little girl with flowing, golden hair and eyes too big for her cute, round face, instead of the brown-haired girl he knows too well. Or maybe not as well as he thinks. Her voice pipes up, "I saw mother."

There she goes again, he thinks. Flynn bites down on his tongue to halt the words that threaten to fly out of his mouth. He rolls the thoughts around in his head, before: "She's gone. You know that, Rapunzel. You can't keep using that as an excuse."

Tears spring to her eyes, but she tries to blink them away. "It's not an excuse." Her hands fumble over one another as she tries to focus on something other than the memories that bubble to her mind. "I really saw her, and you were there, too."

Flynn mumbles swears under his breath. "You want to…"

But Rapunzel doesn't hear the rest of what he said. "What?"

"Do you want to know what I see every time I close my damn eyes, Rapunzel?" She backs away from Flynn as he advances towards her. There's a glint in his eyes that scares her. "I see the children I used to live with growing up. I watch them sentenced to a life of hell in the coal mines."

"Flynn, no. You know how this –"

He cuts off her warning. "They smile at me, like they used to when we told stories in the orphanage." A strange smile adorns his face, as though the memories illusion him from the dusty reality. "I can see them carrying the same pickaxes we used to train with – all rusted and falling to pieces – but they don't seem to mind."

Rapunzel waits when he trails off. Something dances behind his clouding eyes, and she realizes that tears begin to freckle the hidden recollections.

"That's when the cart comes to pick them up, and I watch them disappear into the darkness of the mines."

The visions flash into his memories. He can see the tendrils of darkness reaching and closing its cruel fingers around the group of people he once called friends. The drooping smiles on their faces when they realize that he isn't going with them. Their shouts turn against him, and they start cursing his name.

"Flynn?"

"And all of a sudden," he continues, "The ground starts to shake, and I don't know what's going on, until I see the column of fire rush to the entrance of the mine. I can –" Flynn pauses, shudders. "Hear their screams. Each and every one of them. I watch their death, Rapunzel. I see them die."

Rapunzel presses herself into his chest, trying to transfer some of her warmth into his cold body. "It's not real. It's not real." She repeats the mantra in a soothing manner, and continues to rub his back until the sobs wind down. "I promise."

He pulls himself from her hold, and a look of peacefulness replaces the one of terror. "I know. It's a nightmare, but it feels so real." Flynn presses his fingers to Rapunzel's lips before she can say anything. And he continues, "That's how I felt when I saw you run away from me. I could only imagine something terrible happening to you."

Too much for her. "Flynn." She embraces him as much as her small arms will allow her. "I have to know." The question itches under her skin, and crawls through her heart, like a scalding insect. "Why don't you like me?"

His eyes widen as she presses her lips to his neck, and oh hell, the feeling of her soft lips combined with the scent of her hair drives him crazy. "Why, why do you think that?"

Still nuzzling into the crook of his neck, she says, "Because I see you looking at the other girls. And you're never happy when we go out to the town together." Her lips are pursed, and eyes searching for some answer in his eyes. "You always seem so embarrassed."

Busted. She stops her ministrations. Flynn desperately wants to feel her touch again. "No. That's not it. I am happy, I just don't…" _know how to show you_, his mind finishes.

So he wraps his arms around the beautiful girl in his arms. The girl who still cares for him despite all the times he's shouted at her and the times he left her alone in Corona to find her way back to the castle, just because another girl flirted with him while Rapunzel kept herself busy.

The girl who sticks by his side.

Before he knows it, he pulls her into his old home.

His frantic lips find hers in the heat of the moment, and the waves of pleasure sweep him into her ocean as his hands scramble to press her into the curves of his body. She presses back, sending her own waves back to him, and the kiss is full of swears and broken promises and forgotten sunsets but she's never tasted so sweet.

She gasps for air, but as soon as she can catch her breath, his lips are ghosting against hers, drawing her in and pushing her back in beautiful rhythm. A moan escapes her lips when his tongue steals its way into her mouth and explores the extent of her cavern.

His mind fuzzes when his hands investigate the rest of her body, and she arches her back when his hands find – oh! right there! – and she can see the blazing sun of Corona flashing before her eyes as his hands continue their ministration. She gasps and moans, and her voice fills with sweet honey.

"I'll show you the lights, Rapunzel," he says in a husky voice.

So he does. The lights are beautiful, dancing and weaving into her vision. They blur the line between her reality and the unimaginable things Flynn does to her. And oh-the-world-goes-white before the lights are all she can see. The world fades into night with Flynn holding her tight against him.

Before she disappears from consciousness, she hears:

"You're the only one, Rapunzel."

Smiling, she crosses into a world where there are no nightmares of her mother or children meeting their end with hellish flames. Just Flynn and the unspoken promises that fill her mind.

Even little, sleeping Pascal stops hissing at him.


End file.
